• Feedback from users
• Feedback from service providers
• Feedback from transcribers

Some of the feedback on this page is from transcribers, service providers and end-users, gathered in a research study conducted and reported by RNIB's Centre for Accessible Information and shared with UKAAF.

Report reference: Cryer, H., Home, S., and Morley Wilkins, S. (2008). Why quality matters. RNIB Centre for Accessible Information, Birmingham: Research report #4.

Feedback from users

"If the quality is good I'm more likely to look at it. Like information leaflets from the government or advertising. The quality matters to the suppliers as to whether I'll read it or not. If it's quality you'll treat it as it looks, if it looks rubbish you'll treat it as rubbish."

"It shows they don't care if they do shoddy work."

"I would ignore them, and use someone else's company."

"[If they don't provide me with something I can read I feel] frustrated … and angry. You have to get somebody to read it. And having someone else read it makes me embarrassed. You lose all dignity. Now I have no personal details, my life is an open book. There's no privacy."

"Obviously, the quality matters to get through life on a day to day basis. Without information, things do get very difficult. It certainly does increase independence."

"The catalogue's not only beautifully recorded, but I can find my way to the section I want quickly and easily. For the first time I was able to find what I wanted to buy".

"If they use CD at least they can index it in some way; at least you can get to the section that you need rather than sitting there rewinding or fast-forwarding tapes."

"My phone bills - the braille is terrible. It's all clumped together and
there are no blank lines. You've got a job working out what's minutes, what's cost or time you called. You need different items separated so you can skip what you don't need."

"I can really understand my braille bill now - they've added simple formatting so I know which figures relate to what, instead of being just a long list of numbers which I couldn't understand."

"Well structured, with paragraphs, dividers, information lines at the top, page numbers for print so I can direct a sighted friend or colleague there - these are good quality. But if the layout is non-existent … it's hard to get around. Like a sighted person reading a dense block of text."

"The day they're sending everybody else's letter out, they're sending ours to be translated to large print or braille, so inevitably it will be later. They don't think three weeks ahead that we're entitled to know on the same day as everybody else."

"I requested a braille copy of the instructions. They very kindly got the booklet put into braille, but unfortunately it was a literal translation, so it said, 'You will see that the red button here … and this diagram and that diagram …' It was absolutely useless."

"My local council have issued a document. I can read it, but when they've made the maps larger, they're so fuzzy, nobody can read them; not even my sighted friends can see them. All they have done is just taken the computer copy and enlarged it and that really doesn't work."

Feedback from service providers

"All documents, regardless of content should contain information that is relevant and accurate. This is not just for the customer’s benefit, but for the reputation of the organisation." Energy supplier

"It's all about customer service, and being fair. I'd rather do it quickly, but still to a high standard, not compromising the standard." Retailer

"It can be quite difficult to persuade everyone in the organisation to buy into the concept and really understand how often small changes to their design can make such a huge difference to many people." Communications company

"People who are visually impaired should not be at a detriment as a result of their disability. They should be entitled to the same quality of information as anyone else." Retailer

"To offer a good quality transcription provides a good image to the end-user and also meets our legal obligation." Local government

"Quality matters because our customers are very important. We need to ensure we meet every customer's needs." Retailer

"Sometimes corporate branding can go against making the information accessible. Such as the colours. It's important for people to know the information is coming from your company, but the over-riding thing is that it's easy to use for the customer. If that means changing the branding [for accessible format materials] then so be it - that's what we’ve done." Water supplier

"Accuracy matters for financial documents, definitely. But really quality is important for all information, I suppose clarity matters more [with numbers]. But we try to maintain our standard of quality throughout all our materials." Arts/Leisure organisation

Give feedback of your own - complete our Feedback Form.

Feedback from transcribers

"Making the information fit for purpose can mean often working with the individual or organisation around ensuring their written information is adapted to suit the audio format."

"We aim to produce high quality work in order that it is of maximum accessibility to visually impaired people."

"Everyone should be entitled to receive the same information at the same time as everyone else with nothing left out."

"Maintaining a high quality product also helps increase our customer base by gaining new customers and retaining old."

"We aim for the same quality in everything we transcribe. I would never advocate poor quality for anything as it’s unfair on the user and gives the transcriber a bad name."

Give feedback of your own - complete our Feedback Form.

Terms

We will use feedback on the website and in our literature to promote UKAAF's work and the use of accessible information. UKAAF reserves editorial rights and will not tolerate abusive contributions. We will protect your anonymity where appropriate.